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It’s no secret that the first generation of major VR headsets hasn’t performed as well as many analytics companies were hoping, but HTC is betting that its new Vive Focus headset and others like it will mark a turning point for the industry.

Speaking to Mobile World Live at Mobile World Congress China last week, Vive China boss Alvin Wang Graylin explained why the first generation of VR tech didn’t go as some predicted. “I think when HTC first introduced , back in 2016, it was probably overhyped,” Graylin said. “And because of that, 2017 there was a little bit of a let down because a lot of the growth people had expected from that hype didn’t happen.

“But, 2018 and beyond, it’s coming to, I guess, a new trajectory. Because all of the devices have now gone to second generation and there’s products like this that I’m holding in my hand.” He then gestured to the Focus in his hand, explaining that the standalone headset, which doesn’t require any additional hardware to run, allowed users to experience “premium VR” that lets them walk around an entire space.

“The friction that used to be around getting into VR goes away,” Graylin continued, “because in a few seconds you put this on and you’re in a new world or you’re underwater or you’re in space and you’re traveling with your family who’s somewhere else in the world. That’s the kind of stuff that just gets people excited.”

As for first generation VR? Graylin suggests that there was just too much hassle involved for it to ever properly take off: “It was hard to explain before because people had to go and buy a big PC and set up a lot of wires, so nobody did it. Now, it’s so easy to get this and people can just bring it home and try it and be in it right away. That’s going to change the whole game completely.”

Vive Focus is only available in China right now, but should be releasing across the globe later this year. As for PC-based VR, HTC recently released an upgraded headset named the Vive Pro.

Behind-the-scenes footage of this year’s Ready Player One shows director Steven Spielberg using an HTC Vive to bring the film to life.

The video below, taken from the extra content on the upcoming home video release, shows the legendary director adorning the popular VR headset in the early stages of production. With the help of Digital Domain, Spielberg was able to visualize the movie’s sets before anything had to be shot.

It’s quite fascinating to watch; at one point Spielberg summons a virtual camera to get a sense of what shooting scenes will be like, while later on he communicates with his team, who can change things on the fly as he looks around in VR. It makes a strong case for VR as a production toll in any movie.

Ready Player One is based on the Ernest Cline novel of the same name. The story is set in a dystopian future in which an overpopulated human race turns to a virtual metaverse known as the Oasis for all of its entertainment. The film grossed over $500 million at the box office.

Read Player One releases digitally on July 23rd, with home video releases arriving August 6th.

It’s not all about Silicon Valley; the UK has become a hotbed for VR and AR development over the past few years, with some of the industry’s biggest and best-known teams surfacing in the country. Digital innovation company Digital Catapult wants to keep that momentum going, and this month inducted 10 VR and AR companies into its Augmentor accelerator programme.

Augmentor is a 10-week programme similar to other VR accelerator schemes like HTC’s Vive X. It provides members with access to mentorship from both a business and technical perspective as well as access to resources and support. Digital Catapult has Immersive Labs spaces spread out across the country, including London, Brighton, North Easy Tees Valley and Belfast, as well as the Dimension volumetric capture studio that we’ve visited before in South London.

Perhaps most importantly, though, the scheme will put these 10 companies in front of investors for a showcase in September 2018. Past participants in the programme include the makers of VR creation app, Gravity Sketch, who come onboard as mentors in this round.

The list of companies included is diverse. Swim AR, for example, makes a pair of swimming goggles that will provide you with an AR overlay about your performance when you’re in the water. Valkyrie Industries, meanwhile, is working on a haptic feedback device that will bring a sense of touch into VR experiences.

Elsewhere, Motion Pixel makes a 360 degree video solution with a patented VR stabilization technology, while HoloMe wants to project recordings of humans into the real world using phone AR. The full list of participating companies, taken from a press release, is below.

HoloMe, London UK: An immersive experience that allows you to interact with famous personalities or event family members as a hologram in your current environment.
KageNova, Guildford UK: Developing a technology that aims to solve critical outstanding technological problems in VR/ MR systems that are currently stifling user update.
Lume VR, London UK: A VR platform where scientists and research can explore, manipulate and present their 3D point cloud data and, for the public, a platform to understand important scientific information.
Valkyrie Industries, London UK: An AI Haptic Interface providing a realistic perception of touch for virtual simulations.
Swim AR, London UK: An AR heads-up display for swimmers.
Subconscious VR, Leicester UK: A product that allows tech-aware clients in the healthcare and training sectors to easily deliver group 360 VR.
Kodama Ltd, London UK: Kodama is the home gaming platform for VR and AR.
Somewhere Else Solutions, London UK: A multi-user VR solution to power enterprise transformation for global businesses.
Arcade, London UK: An augmented reality venture design studio.
Motion Pixel, Tamworth UK: VR and 360 capture specialists holding the patent for a new VR stabilisation technology, reducing motion sickness, post-production load and allowing live, movable 360 broadcast.

A recent trademark filing from Samsung suggests the company may be ready to introduce an even better VR display.

Dutch site Galaxy Club recently discovered a European trademark filing from the company for an ‘Anti SDE AMOLED’. While the documents don’t make it explicitly clear, it’s very likely that ‘SDE’ refers to screen door effect, which describes the visible distance between pixels on a display fitted to a VR headset. Viewed through the headset’s lenses, this space an distort your view of a virtual world somewhat, removing some of the immersion.

It’s very possible that this Anti SDE display is the same as the display we saw at this May’s Display Week Event. There, Samsung showcased a screen with a filter specifically designed to combat screen door effect, showcasing a virtual movie poster inside. “Instead of seeing the lines between pixels, the fine details looked more like the grain of a frame from an old movie,” we said in our report.

The company also demonstrated a sharp 2.43-inch display with a 1,200 per-per-inch density (PPI). These clearer screens will eventually be what completely eliminate screen door effect in VR, though right now they’re not thought to be commercially viable, which is why we expect the workaround filter to be what’s really being described in the trademark.

That begs the question, then, will we be seen this new display soon? Samsung is expected to reveal its next enlarged smartphone, the Galaxy Note 9, a month from now at an event on August 9th, and we can’t help but wonder if this new feature will be included in the phone. If it is, that could mean big things for the next Gear VR headset, which supports the Galaxy phones and utilizes content from Oculus.

Old meets new as Mechagami World brings the ancient art of Japanese paper folding to life using AR technology. Dating all the way back to the famous Edo period (1603–1867), traditional Japanese origami is a specific style of art involving the folding, and sometimes cutting, of paper to form various sculptures and designs. Those unfamiliar